Insurance for wind projects on the rise in Canada

 GCube Insurance Services is providing risk mitigation coverage for a third of Canada’s installed wind capacity, the firm announced Wednesday.

The renewable energy underwriter is offering insurance for over 4GW of Canadian wind assets. Over the last year, its coverage has grown to include 36 new projects recently constructed, and it plans for this to increase as project pipelines continue development.

Canada’s installed wind capacity is currently just under 12GW, but the country has set a goal to reach 55GW by 2025.

“Despite the challenges it’s faced, we’re confident that the Canadian market’s goals are achievable,” GCube’s head of business development Jatin Sharma said in a statement. “Experienced risk and insurance managers understand the importance of supporting their colleagues to reduce unscheduled downtime and sustain profitability.”

GCube’s Weather Risk Transfer insurance scheme has been growing in popularity among renewable energy developers since it launched last September. The finance mechanism uses on-site weather data to estimate the financial impact of underperforming wind assets and provides proportional payments to the project’s owner. According to GCube, this risk transfer ensures steady returns and reliable revenues.

The risk insurer also noted a rise in extreme weather-related risk claims for solar projects as well. GCube said that “close to 50 percent of all solar PV claims in the North American market can be attributed to extreme weather related events”. Weather survey company Vaisala released a report last month that show maps across California with below-par solar resource, which it correlated with the sites of major wildfires throughout the region.